Rudd will not talk about troop withdrawal: Howard

Prime Minister John Howard has accused Kevin Rudd of lacking the courage to speak about the consequences of Iraq troop withdrawal.

Transcript

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TONY JONES: John Howard has unleashed his most ferocious attack yet on Kevin Rudd's character. The Prime Minister has accused the Labor leader of lacking the guts to talk about the consequences of troop withdrawals from Iraq. The Labor leader hit back, issuing a challenge for a televised debate, but it was quickly turned down by Mr Howard. From Canberra, Greg Jennett reports.

GREG JENNETT: He's taken a pounding for nearly two days for his foray into US politics. Now John Howard places Kevin Rudd's courage under fire.

JOHN HOWARD, PRIME MINISTER: For the last one and a half days, I have been attacked and lacerated by the Opposition for expressing my view. The Leader of the Opposition doesn't have the guts to express his.

GREG JENNETT: The taunts stem from Mr Rudd's refusal to say what he thinks would happen if US troops were pulled out of Iraq next year.

KEVIN RUDD, OPPOSITION LEADER: My role is not to provide a rolling commentary on the merits or otherwise of the twists and turns in the US military debate.

JOHN HOWARD: I have been prepared to answer that question. I have been willing to cop the criticism of the position that I have taken, but my opposite number in this place does not have the courage to answer that simple question.

GREG JENNETT: It's a reworking of the 'no ticker' jibe Mr Howard used against Kim Beazley but Kevin Rudd was not to be outdone.

KEVIN RUDD: Will the Prime Minister now accept an invitation from me to a nationally televised debate on the future direction of Australia's policy in Iraq?

JOHN HOWARD: You know as well as I do, that's the oldest stunt in the book when an Opposition Leader isn't willing to answer a question.

GREG JENNETT: Questions over Mr Howard's weekend outburst against US presidential hopeful Barack Obama and the Democratic Party has spread to the Liberal backbench. West Australian MP Mal Washer has his doubts over the wisdom of linking the Democrats to al-Qaeda.

MAL WASHER: Spreading it to the Democrats probably wasn't such a good idea. There's a lot of good Democrats who probably don't feel the same way.

TONY SNOW: We're not commenting on Democratic candidates. People have tried to get us to bite on that a number of times.

GREG JENNETT: The tactical twists come thick and fast. As John Howard was going for the character debate, Kevin Rudd was pursuing him on economic credibility, intrigued that his $10 billion water plan never went to Cabinet for approval.

MAN: $10 billion over 10 years, this is absolutely unprecedented in the history of the Commonwealth of Australia for this not to happen, and you know it.

MAN: I'm not sure that's necessarily right.

GREG JENNETT: The Government maintains the package underwent appropriate scrutiny before the decision was taken.